Real estate home stagers Jackie Craig and Beth Smoot found that homeowners had too much stuff in their homes—stuff that no one wanted to waste, but was no longer needed. Jackie and Beth were also conscious of the thousands of families attempting to move out of homelessness that could not afford furniture and basic household items without assistance.
With this in mind, the pair founded The Green Chair Project in 2010 to collect and reuse essential furnishings to benefit their Wake County neighbors in need. The Green Chair Project is a non-profit organization that collects donated furnishings for people transitioning from homelessness, crisis or disasters.
For a small fee, clients working with case managers from over 90 partner agencies can select furniture, linens, cookware and accessories to outfit their new homes. The Green Chair experience promotes the idea of choice and empowers clients as they begin to rebuild.
There are 38,500 Wake County households living below the federal poverty line, who cannot afford essential household needs like furnishings for their homes or beds for their children.
Since their founding in 2010, The Green Chair Project has helped more than 5,500 families begin anew. By partnering with referring human services agencies, The Green Chair Project strengthens relationships with their partner agencies, builds new relationships with other prospective agencies and works with their clients during their personalized shopping experience.
The Green Chair Project partners with the Wake County Public School System through the “Sweeter Dreams” program in which children are referred by school social workers and provided with twin bed frames, box springs, mattresses, sheets, pillows and blankets. Over 6,000 children in Wake County are sleeping on floors or sharing crowded beds with others and not getting the sleep they need to learn online or at school. In 2020, over 1000 children received a bed of their own. To date, over 4,000 children have received new beds!
The Green Chair Project is on a mission to provide a bed for EVERY child in need! The Green Chair Project works to provide the essentials of home to all. FPC’s Mission budget provides funding for the organization’s operational needs and in past years, we’ve sent volunteers on our FPC Serves Day of Service. In our 2021 January Month of Service, we assembled cleaning buckets for households they serve.
In March, First Presbyterian will collect new pillows and new twin sheet sets to support their “Sweeter Dreams” program. Bring your donations to the FPC Edge Lobby or to our next Sunday Drive and Drop-Off on April 7 from 2:00 – 4:00 pm.
Listen and watch Jackie’s recent Moment for Mission at FPC:
For more information, or to donate directly to The Green Chair Project, visit www.thegreenchair.org.
You can even shop their online store »